The present invention relates to improved food products and to their methods of preparation. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods for preparing confectionery gelled food products, especially fruit based.
The present invention provides an improvement in gelled food products such as prepared by starch molding and to their methods of preparation. In particular, the present invention comprises depositing a gelable fluid mixture at or near finish moisture into shaped starch cavities. The present invention provides product preparation methods that importantly comprise shorter residence times during curing than in conventional starch molding techniques by eliminating or at least greatly reducing drying required for obtaining the finished products.
Wholesome snacks prepared from sweetened intermediate moisture shelf stable fruit or xe2x80x9cfruit snacksxe2x80x9d herein have recently become popular food items. These compositions are sold in various physical forms and shapes such as: 1) in rolled sheet form; 2) in rolled strip form; 3) in string form mounted on a U-board; 4) soft center filled pieces, and 5) in gelled bite size pieces of various shapes or in gelled bite size piece form prepared by starch molding.
Generally, these products are prepared from wet mixtures of the various fruit materials and added ingredients that are dried to desired moisture contents. The dehydrated compositions are formed into articles of desired shapes and sizes. In other variations, all or a portion of the fruit material is substituted with pure sugars. Such low fruit, high sugar formulations can be flavored with fruit flavors and/or other flavors. Within this general similarity, however, the particular methods of preparation, product formulations and apparatus used to prepare particular products vary considerably. Moreover, such variations are highly interdependent. Formulations and method steps suitable for one product form might or might not be suitable for another product form due to the processing difficulties, or desired end product attributes such as shape or texture.
Particularly popular products are in rolled sheet form such as are sold under the Fruit Roll-Ups brand. Popular products rolled strip form are sold under the Fruit By The Foot brand (see also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,455,053 entitled xe2x80x9cRolled Food Itemxe2x80x9d issued Oct. 3, 1995). Food products in string form mounted on a U-board are sold under the String Thing(trademark) mark while other products in bite size pieces of various shapes are sold under various brands. (See, for example, commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,942,268 entitled xe2x80x9cEmbossed Shape-Food Itemxe2x80x9d issued Aug. 24, 1999 to Zimmermann et al.). Soft center filled pieces products are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,853,236 entitled xe2x80x9cDual Textured Food Piece Of Enhanced Stability Using An Oil In Water EMULSIONxe2x80x9d (issued Mar. 18, 1988 to Langler et al.) while apparatus and fabrication methods therefor are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,208,059 entitled xe2x80x9cDual Textured Food Piece Fabrication Apparatusxe2x80x9d (issued Jun. 10, 1992 to Dubowik et al.).
In particular, the present invention provides further improvements in the gelled food products in bite size pieces and their starch molding methods of preparation taught in related commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,077,557 entitled xe2x80x9cGel Products Fortified With Calcium And Method Of Preparationxe2x80x9d (issued Jun. 20, 2000 to Gordon et al.) and which is incorporated herein by reference. In that application, a calcium slurry is prepared and is added to other materials such as sugars and fruit purees to form a calcium bearing fluid gelable blend or slurry. The calcium bearing gelable blend is then further processed such as by forming that blend into shaped pieces by adding to shaped cavities in starch moulds and curing and drying to form finished calcium fortified gelled food pieces.
Also, the present invention further provides an improvement towards an alternative to that calcium slurry such as is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Ser. No. 09/596,512 entitled xe2x80x9cGel Products Fortified With Calcium And Methods Of Preparationxe2x80x9d (filed Jun. 19, 2000 by Gordon et al.) and which is incorporated herein by reference.
In each of the ""557 patent and U.S. Ser. No. 09/596,512, the gelable calcium bearing compositions are formed into pieces, and cured by conventional starch molding. The curing step involves the formation of the gel structure of the gelling agents, and optional heating of the products to remove excess moisture and eventual cooling down of the products to form a gel that is able to withhold its individual shape. The conventional starch molding step is practiced with extended curing time ranging from about 16 to 48 hours. While a gel structure forms early in the curing step, the lengthy duration is required by the need for substantial moisture removal from the gel into the starch.
However, in the present invention, by virtue of the present improved deposition of a gelable fluid at near finish moisture contents, the starch molding curing times can be substantially reduced.
These dried fruit products are especially popular with children, particularly as snack or convenience foods. To continue to appeal to children, manufacturers must introduce frequent changes to such products. For example, the shapes of the products can be changed to employ currently popular character shapes such as from a movie, television show, cartoons, etc. An advantage of starch molding is that such shape changes can be made quickly, cheaply, and easily.
In starch molding, shapes are stamped into a bed of starch forming cavities by a shaped die or tamper. A gelable fluid mixture is then charged to the cavities and is allowed to cure to harden and to dry to form thereby gelled food products.
One problem, however, with starch molding is that holding times for curing are lengthy and can generally range from one to several days. After curing the shaped pieces are removed from the starch. Large quantities of product, starch and holding rooms and equipment are required to provide such lengthy holding times.
Thus, it would be desirable to reduce starch molding curing times. One approach to reducing curing times is simply to increase the solids content of the fluid gelable mixture being deposited so as to reduce degree of the drying required and thus to reduce the curing time. However, increasing the solids content can also increase the viscosity of the fluid mixture, which in turn can impair the ability to properly fill the starch cavities, and thus lead to product shape defects. The mixture can also be prone to premature gelling causing fouling and other processing and starch cavity mould filling problems. Often such problems are due to inadequate hydration of one or more gelling agents or inadequate mixing of the composition due to restrictions on moisture usage.
In view of the current state of the gelled food art, there is a continuing need for new and improved formulations and methods for preparing gelled shaped food products.
The present invention satisfies this need by providing methods for preparing such starch molded gelled bite size dried fruit products that are characterized by reduced or even no drying and thus reduced curing times. In part, the present invention involves providing a gelable sweetened fruit fluid slurry of increased solids intermediate product that nonetheless (has lower or comparable viscosities) that allows for successful starch molding.
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide methods for preparing fortified sweetened dried gelled fruit compositions having reduced cure times.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide high solids content gelable food slurry product intermediates useful in the preparation of gelled food products.
Still another objective is to provide techniques and methods for providing such high solids gelable fluid intermediate products.
It has been surprisingly discovered that the above objectives can be realized and superior dried sweetened fruit preparation methods provided by preparing a high solids content gelable fluid by the herein described techniques that requires minimal curing times whether by reducing setting and/or drying times. The present invention further provides novel methods of preparation of such gel products characterized by reductions or elimination of drying times or by reductions or elimination of setting times.